GOP HOUSE BUDGET BILL JUNE 2018

While we were being distracted by the atrocities at the border and the upcoming trade wars (to name a few of the distractions), Congress is moving forward with draconian cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. 
One of the "options" in their budget bill is to privatize Medicare. As someone with her entire career spent in healthcare, it is my experience that the patient will lose financially and healthwise if Medicare is privatized. Insurance companies will deny care for whatever reason they can invent. If the insurance claim is rejected after the patient has received care, they will be billed, and if they don't pay, the provider will sue. After all, they're in the business to make money, not pay insurance claims if they can avoid it. 
Medicaid provides services to the disabled and elderly, including nursing home care. All these benefits are being reduced or eliminated to pay for the tax cuts, which have been MOST beneficial to the 1%. You may have enough assets to pay $5000 to $8000 per month for nursing home care when the time comes, but if you don't, you might want to talk with your children. Do you expect your children to care for you when you're too old or too ill to take care of yourself? I would not want my daughter to be burdened with this issue, but maybe that's just me.
Don't stick your head in the sand or waste time calling this fake news or debating this issue. I get it. What's happening to our country is so overwhelming that it's challenging to keep up. We have to remain vigilant. We must make our voices heard on ALL the issues negatively impacting our country. These are moral issues.
We have been a country that cares about people––"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." Look familiar? It's what many of our ancestors saw on the Statue of Liberty when they were fleeing their respective countries and entering the safe harbor in NYC for a better life. It's a travesty that the same sign isn't greeting those fleeing violence in their countries to find safety in our country.  It's evident to me that the color of their skin determines whether or not they are welcomed into this country.  Oh, we welcomed those with darker skin in years gone by, but only if they were on slave ships. Our inhumanity didn't start with the current policies.  It started even before the slave ships when we slaughtered and rounded up Native Americans.  We all know what happened to them.  Injustices and immorality come in all different forms.  We can't hide from our shameful past and can certainly do something about what's going on now.
Stand up, speak out, and demand that Congress keep their greedy hands off Medicare and Medicaid. And, if they don't represent your values, vote them out of office. If all you care about is the pleasure you're receiving from a quasi-tax cut (and no one I know is in the 1%, so get real!), then may God be merciful upon your soul. 
We're ALL impacted one way or the other. Be informed.



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